wintergames.ap.org / CC

Some say Olympic snowboarder Greg Bretz "won" an informal McNugget-eating contest by downing 60 blobs of fried chicken bits. But judging by the dazed expression on his face in the second photo, I'm thinking that even he agrees: major biff!

Regardless, we've asked Greg to lay off the McNuggets until McDonald's adopts a less cruel slaughter method. McCruelty in the U.S. and Canada refuses to improve slaughter methods for birds, instead allowing suppliers to break chickens' bones and scald many of them to death—never mind that controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), approved for use in the U.S., is already used by McDonald's suppliers in Europe.

Perhaps he'll decide to follow Olympic medalist and snowboarder extraordinaire Hannah Teter's lead, who, when asked about life at the Olympics, scored gold in the hearts of caring people around the world when she quipped, "They have McDonald's at the athlete village, so I'll hit that up every morning. … Not!"

Written by Karin Bennett

rps.psu.edu / CC

Vegan? There's an app for that. Electronic pie-throwing? There's a tweet for that. Animatronic shadow-detecting? Thanks to some talented students at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, there may be a system for that sometime in the very near future.

Chris Nadovich—director of laboratories in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Lafayette—was so intrigued by our request to the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle to replace Punxsutawney Phil with an animatronic groundhog that he created a project for his students, asking them to develop a shadow-detection system that would help an animatronic Phil "see" his shadow. Right now, five teams of two students each are slated to begin working on this project, which will be completed by the end of April.

We can't wait to see what Nadovich's class comes up with. In the meantime, we're already working on a name for the new technology. Our suggestion: "iShadow." What would you call the groundbreaking (and groundhog-liberating) innovation?

Written by Logan Scherer

After reading PETA's news release announcing that footwear giant Nike has banned exotic skins, I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. I'm not, and neither are you. According to a newly revised policy, Nike and its upscale affiliate Cole Haan will stop selling skins from alligators, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, ostriches, fish, and marine mammals.

This fabulous decision was made after the footwear giants were sent PETA Asia's undercover video footage, which details the gruesome, intense suffering that the exotic-skins industry inflicts on animals. We asked Nike to "just do it." And it did!

Nike is the world's leading shoe manufacturer. Its 2009 sales topped $19 billion, and it operates in more than 160 countries, with approximately 675 Nike-owned retail stores operating worldwide. Cole Haan stores operate in Canada, Japan, and 25 U.S. states. Nike and Cole Haan are world leaders in trendy footwear, and now they've joined H&M and Overstock.com as trendsetters for animals.

After you kick up your cruelty-free heels, please take a moment to thank the companies for their compassionate decision.

Written by Karin Bennett